Denver Botanic Gardens Urban Homestead Tour

I’m excited to announce the first (and hopefully, annual) Denver Botanic Gardens Urban Homestead Tour. Check out the tour photo (featuring Rick in the bee suit and E with one of our hens) along with the official press release below.

DENVER – Denver Botanic Gardens will host its 2012 Urban Homestead Tour of Denver and surrounding communities. The tour aims to inform, educate and inspire the community by featuring a variety of traditional and innovative efforts in the urban homesteading movement.

Local homesteaders all throughout the Denver metro area will open the doors of their homes to provide guests with an opportunity to see what urban homesteading is all about. Come prepared to be surprised because “urban homesteading is not only growing vegetables in your yard and raising chickens. It also includes activities like canning, making soap and using alternative energy sources in your home,” says Sundari Kraft, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading” and founder of EatWhereULive, one of the community supporters of the tour.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Urban homesteaders who want to participate as a tour stop, share their efforts, their joys and their experiences with the public can find information and applications at www.botanicgardens.org

The tour, which counts with the support of community partners like Anisa Schell, author of the LazyHomesteader.com, and Lisa Rogers, founder and director of Feed Denver, is completely self-guided. Participants are encouraged to drop-by whatever locations they see fit from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tour map sales will begin Aug. 22nd and tour participants will receive them starting on Sept. 19th.

Date and Time:
Saturday, September 22
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Admission:
$5 per person
Ticket sales start August 22
For more information and to register visit www.botanicgardens.org

About Denver Botanic Gardens: Green inside and out, the Gardens is considered one of the top botanical gardens in the United States and a pioneer in water conservation. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Gardens’ living collections encompass specimens from the tropics to the tundra, showcasing a plant palette chosen to thrive in Colorado’s semi-arid climate. The Gardens’ dynamic, 23-acre urban oasis in the heart of the city is now in its 52nd year, offering unforgettable opportunities to flourish with unique garden experiences for the whole family – as well as world-class education and plant conservation research programs. Additional sites at Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield, a 750-acre wildlife and native plant refuge in Jefferson County; and Mount Goliath, a high-altitude trail and interpretive site on the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, extend this experience throughout the Front Range. For more information, visit us online at http://www.botanicgardens.org.

I’m really excited to be working with Denver Botanic Gardens to bring more awareness about urban homesteading to the community through this event. We all hope it’s a huge success. If you’re a local, this is your chance to see other urban homesteads up close. Mark your calendar!

Oh cool!!! I love these tours! They offer so much inspiration! Emmett cracked me up the other night! When we were talking about naming our chickens he popped into the conversation between bites of food, of course, and said, “yeah, we killed ours.”

How are your potatoes doing? Are you still growing them? Harvest them? How did/is the tower doing?

Very awesome!!! So your homestead will be a stop on the way? I’d love to check it out & say hi! My parents had their garden featured in the Rocky Mountain News Home & Garden contest one year. These kinds of events are really cool & show some amazing projects.